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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193548">starting line</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart'>BeStillMySlashyHeart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, M/M, POV Outsider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:01:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>990</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nicky and Joe meet and kill each other (again and again), Andy and Quynh know they must find them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1340</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>starting line</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They awaken gasping for air. Quynh turned sideways and emptied her stomach over the side of the bed while Andy pressed both hands to her head in a vain attempt to ease the thundering ache. </p><p>“Two,” Quynh gasps in between heaves. “There were two of them.” She spits to clear the bile from her mouth.</p><p>“I didn’t think there could be two,” Andy muttered. Every sound felt like a nail in her skull. “Not at the same time.” She pressed harder against her head. “What did you see?”</p><p>“Two men,” Quynh laid back on the bed, her eyes closed. “A war. One was bearded. The other bore a cross on his chest.”</p><p>“The holy wars,” Andy agreed. “There are battles all over that area these days.” She inhaled slowly, deeply. “I think- I think they killed each other.”</p><p>Quynh laughed. “I think they killed each other more than once.”</p><p>—</p><p>It took Andy and Quynh nearly half a year to find them. By the time they’d reached the battle site from their dreams, only the dead were there to greet them, the armies moved on and the men with them. They continued to dream of them, of the deaths they bestowed on each other, for the first month. After that, the dreams changed. Wherever they were, the two men had obviously decided to remain together. Their enemies were no longer each other, or each other’s army, but individual foes. </p><p>They had left the war. And they had done so together.</p><p>Andy didn’t know what to make of it. She suspected Quynh had an idea but she was reticent to share it, always unwilling to be wrong. </p><p>By the time they finally caught up with them, the dreams had stopped. The men had stopped dying. The last night they dreamt, Andy had caught flashes of an inn; Quynh had seen enough to determine which town the inn was in. </p><p>Privately, Andy thought it foolish to hope that the men were still there. After all, it had been nearly three weeks since the last dream. They had likely moved on, possibly even gone their separate ways. But Quynh had hope that their searching had reached its end so Andy kept her doubts to herself and allowed herself to be led to the tiny inn in the large town on the border of the empire. She sat back, content to let Quynh investigate for her, when she heard half-familiar laughter through a cracked doorway. The door was warped, unable to close fully, and it left a gap large enough for Andy to peer through when she pressed against it. </p><p>Inside the room, two men were entwined on a bed, half of their clothes on the floor beside them. </p><p>A gentle touch on her shoulder startled her. She whirled, fist raised, only to face Quynh’s amused smirk. “Did you find anything?”</p><p>Andy nodded at the door and took a step back to allow Quynh to see for herself. “Well,” she chuckled. “Definitely the men we’re looking for.” She straightened. “We should probably wait to speak to them.” </p><p>“However should we pass the time?” Andy reached for Quynh only for her to dance out of her reach. </p><p>“We can’t. We need to be prepared when they are finished. If we are preoccupied, we might lose them again.”</p><p>Andy sighed and looked back at the closed door. “You’re right.”</p><p>“Of course I am,” Quynh smiled.</p><p>Andy laughed and led the way to the dining room where they ordered small platters to share. </p><p>They waited longer than Andy had hoped for though not nearly as long as she had feared before the two men made an appearance, clearly eager for a meal of their own. Andy watched as the bearded man made his way to an empty table and left his companion standing in the entrance. His companion who had caught sight of Andy and Quynh and was staring, transfixed. </p><p>With a gentle word to get his lovers attention, the man walked over to them. “I have seen you in my dreams,” he greeted.</p><p>Quynh. “As we have seen you. Sit,” she gestured to the empty seats. The men looked at each other, a brief moment of wordless communication, before they sat.</p><p>“I am Nicolo,” the man introduced himself. “This is Yusuf.” The other man nodded in greeting. “How-”</p><p>Quynh smiled but did not respond. This was her first time meeting another immortal so she was happy to leave this part to Andy. “My name is Andromache and this is Quynh,” Andy started. “We’ve been looking for you two for some time.”</p><p>“How do we know you?” Yusuf asked. “How do we know your faces?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Andy answered honestly. “But it is how we find each other so that we are not alone.” The two men exchanged another look. “But you two haven’t been alone at all, have you? You’re lucky. It took me a long time to find someone else.”</p><p>Nicolo smiled. “Yes. We are lucky.” He did not look away from Yusuf even as Yusuf turned back to them.</p><p>“So you are like us?”</p><p>“Yes,” Quynh answered. “But no, we do not know how. Or why.”</p><p>“It is a miracle,” Nicolo said simply. He seemed remarkably unconcerned with his new fate. “It is a gift from God.” Andy very carefully did not roll her eyes. She had had enough of religion and gods millennia ago. </p><p>“If that is how you see it,” she agreed diplomatically. </p><p>“It brought us together from opposite sides of a war,” Nicolo replied. “It cannot be anything else.”</p><p>Oh, Andy realized. They were going to be <em>that</em> couple. Wonderful. Quynh took a glance at her face and only laughed.</p><p>Across the table, Yusuf had taken Nicolo’s hand in his own and was holding it gently, like it was something precious.</p><p>“So,” he said. “Who are you?”</p><p>“That’s a long story,” Andy warned.</p><p>He smiled. “I believe we have the time.”</p>
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